Where Does God Dwell?

Where does God live, or better said, where does God dwell? The Jews believed that God dwelt in their Temple. This is where they made sacrifices to Him. It is where the Holy of Holies was. Jesus must have believed that also or he would not have been so upset with the merchants and money changers. We can tell He was very passionate by his reaction of going as far as driving them out with a whip. “My Father’s house is not a house of trade!”

But then Jesus adds a twist to the story with His answer to the Jews when asked by what authority He does this. We hear Jesus say he will destroy the Temple and in three days he will rebuild it. You and I have the benefit of knowing that He was talking about His own Death and Resurrection, but to the Jews, it would have been ridiculous. This raises the question again, where does God dwell? If Jesus is our new Temple, God must dwell in Him. It’s almost as if the old way of thinking had to be destroyed for us to be given a new way. Our relationship with God is not through a Temple anymore; it is through His Son, Jesus. Jesus drives out the worldly characteristics of the Temple as a foreshadowing of how the bindings of the world must be driven out for us to have a relationship with Him. Our relationship Him with begins and ends in His Passion, Death and Resurrection. Our salvation is found there.

We can celebrate and receive this relationship with Christ through the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, we participate in His Passion, Death and Resurrection. It is where we truly find Christ: Body, Soul and Divinity.

As Catholics, we truly believe Christ is present in the Eucharist. If Christ dwells in the Eucharist, then God also dwells there. As we consume the Eucharist, His Body and Blood then becomes part of us. Just by this action, God can dwell in each one of us.

On Corpus Christi we celebrate the Eucharist itself and the true presence of Christ in it. Let us prepare our personal temples to allow God to dwell in each of us.

May Jesus live in our hearts forever.
Deacon Chris